Annual Reunion – Report by Ken Pridham

What a great day,we had over a hundred people in attendance, the day gets bigger,congrats to the boys and girl (DONNA)on the committee for there time and effort in making the day such a success.

MC for the day Leggs and president Ken.P welcomed everyone to our clubrooms which looked terrific with the Gold and Blue tablecloths and balloons,cheese platters(made by Donna)where devoured by all.

We were here to celebrate four premierships,1976 u/17,1986 A res,1996 A res and 2006 A grade.

First up was Jeff Nickson coach of the u/17,forty years ago and his memory of that year was fantastic.Eight of the team were present Mick Trevean,Peter Molenkamp,Simon Egan,Craig Walker,Mark Chandler,Gary Crole,Phillip Early and John Leverett(who brought along some history of the year)Jeff told us about Graeme May(life member of our club)who Jeff rated as one of the best junior footballers he has seen,was playing centre half back for East Keilor who we beat in the preliminary final before going on to defeat Aberfeldie in the Grand Final.

Ian Fletcher was next,coach of the 1986 A reserves who’s memory was not as clear as the previous coach,so his recollections were not as sharp(due to heavy celebrations)some of his players from that team kept trying to improve his memory of the year but to no avail,

Chris”Butch”Bell captain of the 1996 A res premiership team was next up,the team was coached by Craig Hille,Butch played in the back pocket and was Best on ground,unfortunately I was called away for some reason and missed the rest of his talk.

Craig Hille coach of our 2006 A grade premiership team was next up and gave a very colourful talk on how he got the team together,how they performed through the year and were rewarded with the premiership.

Lunch followed,the senior team started their game V Avondale Heights,we kicked seven goals to nil in the first quarter to virtually win the game,The horse auction was next,followed at half time with comedian Dan Connell who had his audience in his hands.

The rest of the day was spent reminiscing with old friends and old footballers whose stories are getting bigger and bigger every year,great to see and have a chat to Mark”wally”Eustace who hasn’t been in our clubrooms since he left at sixteen years of age to play with Essendon under nineteens.

While we were enjoying ourselves inside,outside our football team had a great win 20-15=135 to 7-9=51 over Heights.

Unfortunately my old body gave out at Five o’clock and I went home,but the reunion kept going,the band started with the music after the game,the players and supporters joined in the fun,the raffle prizes were won,somewhere someone was feasting on crayfish(notice the spelling Palms).the Pizza’s arrived and eaten in minutes and the night rolled on.UNTIL?

Thanks,to all the committee for all their hard work and their donating of prizes for the raffles,Donna for adding the women’s touch to the day,Steve Carey setting up the tables and chairs on Friday afternoon and his cleaning up the next day,to Glenn Williams and his helpers behind the bar who kept the drinks flowing,to president John Elliott and the committee for their support,if I have missed thanking anyone sorry.

That’s it till next year